


Ask Me

by Sotheylived



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Engagement, F/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 01:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4329237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sotheylived/pseuds/Sotheylived
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma knows from her vast knowledge of Disney movies, that the time between meeting and marriage in fairy tales is almost always less than a week; and it's not as though she would ever marry someone she just met, but Hook comes from the Enchanted Forest, so why hasn't he popped the question yet?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ask Me

Killian had been putting it off for days, but he knew he had to stop stalling and talk to the prince. He flexed his fingers by his side, as though reaching for a sword that wasn't there before he pulled David aside. It took all his willpower not to fidget under the prince's firm stare.

Killian pulled his shoulders back and cleared his throat, forcing a false sense of confidence into his voice. “I don’t know the customs here in this realm,” he tugged on his ear, unable to stop the nervous tick, “but I’m here to ask your permission – well ‘permission’ isn’t really the right word, Emma would probably find offense to that. I’m here for your … blessing? I guess.” Killian stopped and took a deep breath to calm himself. “Blessing, yes I’m here to ask your blessing for me to ask for Emma’s hand in marriage.”

Mary Margaret let out a surprised little yelp and ran over giving Killian an awkward hug. “I wasn’t eavesdropping I swear,” she said, smiling at him brightly. At both Killian and David’s frozen faces she shrugged, “okay maybe I was eavesdropping.

Killian knew Mary Margaret’s reaction was good, but his heart was still racing as he looked at David - who was standing there gaping like a fish. Finally after a nudge to the ribs from Mary Margaret, David clasped a hand on Hook’s shoulder, a little too firmly. “You make her happier than I’ve ever seen her Hook; of course you have our blessing.”

A brilliant smile lit up Killian’s face.

“But, I think it might be too soon for you to ask her,” David said with an awkward cough, “things are different here than back in the Enchanted Forest.”

Killian’s face fell when he saw Mary Margaret nod. “Yeah he’s right, people here date much longer before they propose, and that’s all Emma has ever known.”

“How long do you think I must wait?” Killian asked, spinning one of the rings on his finger.

“Well,” Mary Margaret smiled at him sadly, “maybe a year, that seems to be the minimum for that sort of thing in this realm.”

“A  _year_?” Killian had expected a month or two more maybe, but definitely not an entire year.  

“Then the engagement is usually at least a few months after that.” David looked like he was fighting a smile – Hook was fighting the urge to punch him.

“You must be joking.”

Mary Margaret looked at him sadly. “It’s customary here, and we all know how … skittish Emma can be. I think it’s best you wait.” She smiled kindly at him. “I am excited though Ho- Killian, I cannot wait until you ask her.”

“ _You_ can’t wait?” Killian grumbled under his breath, “ _I_ can’t wait.” He thanked them for the layaway blessing and left the diner, fully intending to go brood on how long he’d have to wait before he could make Emma his wife.

* * *

 

The first time the idea popped into her head had been when Henry had convinced them to watch The Little Mermaid after the whole Ursula ordeal. Three days,  _three days,_  and Ariel was married to Eric. Watching the movie had made Emma think about it, and in all of the fairytales she had grown up with, it always seemed like there was barely any time between when a couple met and when they got engaged. Yet she and Killian had met more than two years ago. In their defense they hadn’t been friends, let alone dating for the majority of it, but still, they  _have_ been dating for almost six months now. Everything she knew from Disney seemed to say that they should practically be on kid three by now – not that she wanted that or anything – it’s just, shouldn’t that be what Killian wanted?

 Rather than take Disney’s word for it, because clearly some things were very, very wrong – her pirate being one of them – she decided to ask the fairytale inhabitants themselves. After stalling asking anyone for a few days Emma finally decided to ask Belle and Ruby when she noticed them in a corner of the diner away from most of the patrons.

“So, you guys have seen your Disney counterparts, right?” Emma asked, feigning casualness. Both women nodded.

“Did Disney get it right?”

 Belle laughed. “You realize that my fairytale is Beauty and the Beast and the beast is covered in fur.” Belle’s face fell, “in the end the beast is human again and ends up with Belle, which clearly isn’t what happened.”

“Right, sorry,” Emma mumbled, feeling stupid for even asking, she should just leave now and cut her losses.

 “Hey at least you get a movie, I don’t even have a Disney cartoon.” Ruby smiled, and gently nudged Belle’s shoulder.

 Belle smiled weakly back at her before turning back to Emma, “why do you ask?”

Emma braced herself. “Oh no reason, I was just wondering if people in the Enchanted Forest really did get engaged after knowing each other for like two seconds or if they date for a while like they do here, cause that’d be crazy – getting married after only knowing each other for a day,” oh god, she was rambling and being obvious but the word vomit wouldn’t stop, “like can you imagine meeting someone then marrying them in the same day like sleeping beauty or something, it seemed like Aurora knew Philip longer than that though, so…” Emma cleared her throat and shrugged.

Belle looked at her with pity while Ruby had a too big smile plastered on her face. Before they could answer her question Emma faked a call from the sheriff’s station and fled.

The next day Anna and Elsa dropped by, (Emma was grateful she had learned how to open the portal between the two realms so they could visit frequently) and Emma decided to ask them. She tried to subtly ask how long Anna and Kristoff knew each other before they got engaged.

 “Wait,” Anna said seeing straight through the question, “aren’t you and Killian already married?” She turned to Elsa who was trying to speak but Anna cut her off, “I thought they were already married, don’t you have a son Emma? Unless you had that son out of wedl–” Anna slapped a hand over her own mouth. “Sorry,” she whispered between fingers “it’s perfectly fine if you’re not married – not that there’s anything wrong with being married – I mean I  _am_ married and you’re not so –” This time Elsa pushed Anna’s hand back over her mouth.

“Sorry Emma, you know Anna, no filter. And the customs here are different than they are in Arendale, are they not?”

Elsa was right, the land without magic, Disney, Arendale, they were all different, Emma needed to find out about the Enchanted Forest.

 One day about a week after seeing Elsa and Anna, Mary Margaret couldn’t go to the mommy and me class with Neal, so Emma offered to take him – to her mother’s absolute delight. Emma figured it’d be an easy time to ask some of the women of the Enchanted Forest about their engagements without being too obvious.

After class was over – (and  _that_  was something Emma hoped to never do again, the bouncing and the block building she could do, but singing with a room full of Disney princesses when she was barely even a shower singer herself,  _never_  again) – she approached Aurora and Ashley.

Emma ended up just blurting out her question, even though she’d practiced what she’d say a hundred times during the class. The princesses glanced at each other for a moment before answering her; both were engaged almost immediately after meeting their princes. Aurora even told her not to worry, that her pirate was probably just waiting for the perfect moment and Emma couldn’t help but feel a little mortified. It was one thing knowing she was probably already the talk of the town dating a pirate, but people finding out that she was going around town asking everyone about engagement customs was something even more embarrassing.

That night, after the returning Neal to her father at the loft Emma headed to Granny’s to find Killian. He was in the back by the dart board between the diner and the inn when Emma pulled him into the hall without saying anything.

“What’s the matter love?” he asked noticing the nervous, almost frenzied look on her face.

“Why haven’t you asked me to marry you?” she blurted before she could lose her nerve.

He stuttered for a moment before answering, “I was waiting because when I asked your parents their blessing they told me it was customary to wait in this realm for at least a year, were they not right?” He looked at her with a cautious smile beginning to bloom on his face.  

“You’ve already asked my parents’ blessing?” Emma asked, as a feeling of warmth and indescribable happiness surged through her.

Killian ducked his head and nodded. “Aye.”

“Good.” Emma smiled.

Killian reached into an interior pocket of his jacket touching the little black box inside. “Were your parents wrong, love?”

“No, they were right,” Emma said. “People from this realm usually wait a while.”

“Oh,” Killian’s face fell as he dropped the box back into the pocket.

Emma stepped closer to him with a shy smile. “But I’m not from this realm.”

It took a moment for the words to register, but once they did Killian surged forward and captured her lips in a passionate kiss, backing her up against the wall. His hand and hook were everywhere, her own hands tugging him as close as humanly possible. Heat was racing through her, magic tingling just beneath her skin, she could barely breathe – when he pulled back she chased his lips and seized them again until all the air had been stolen from her lungs and she was sure that another moment and she would burst into flames. Finally they broke apart, arms still wrapped around one another, and foreheads touching.

“Ask me, Killian.” She said, brushing her nose against his.

Killian kissed her jaw and pulled her body flush against his. “I’m not proposing to you in the back hall of Granny’s love.” He smirked at her and began trailing wet open mouthed kisses down the line of her neck.

“That’s okay,” Emma smiled, “I can wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote and posted this to my tumblr (same username) in January and now I'm trying to migrate everything over here. There's also a gifset that I made to go with it (http://sotheylived.tumblr.com/post/108702722721/ask-me-to-marry-you-killian-had-been-putting-it) don't judge my bad gif making skills haha


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